It was always going to be a tough ask for an under strength 1st XI when they travelled to 3rd placed Bowdon and so it proved despite making a positive start. Early wickets for Leechy (Warbo diving forward at cover to take the catch) and Dave left our hosts on 13-2 and had a big LBW appeal against Tipton gone in our favour who knows, however, that wasn't to be and opener Tipton and leading run scorer Olivier set about building a match winning partnership. The pair put on 131 for the 3rd wicket before Olivier fell for 56 to a good catch from Livo above his head at mid-on off Leechy. Callum picked up his first 1st XI wicket when he clean bowled Teasdale with the score on 154 and then Dave clean bowled the opener Tipton for 98 when a century beckoned. At 182-5 in the 41st over, we were still in the game and a few quick wickets restricted their bid for quick runs at the end and they finished on 215-8 declared in the 47th over. Leechy picked up his 3rd wicket thanks to a fine full length diving catch from Matt Owen at cover and Dave added 2 more to his total (an LBW and a catch for Livo at long on) finishing with 4-46.

Upton had 53 overs to score the 216 required but were never in the hunt. In the 3rd over, Robbo tried to cut a short ball and Tipton took a smart catch above his head at 3rd slip to leave us on 1-1. Matt was adjudged LBW 2 overs later for 7 and at 13 for 2 we were looking down the barrel. Connor and Dan tried to rebuild and compiled what turned out to be the highest partnership of the innings, 13, however, when Connor and Tom Woods fell to consecutive balls, there seemed no way back at 26-4 from 7.5 overs. Dan battled hard (indeed his 23 balls faced was the longest innings of the Upton reply) hitting a couple of lovely shots for 4 but was undone by a ball from Tully that rose viciously off a length and he gloved it to Olivier in the slips with the score on 36-5. Livo hit a couple of 4s but then pulled a hamstring going for a single, collapsed in a heap and was run out. Leech was clean bowled by Tulley 3 balls later, Warbo, hampered by injury became the 3rd LBW victim and Luke & Callum were both bowled by Tully giving the home skipper figures of 6-22 from his 10.2 overs. Dave was left not out on 5 and the innings closed on 66 all out in 21.2 overs. The result leaves Upton in the bottom 2, 8 points behind Brooklands but 38 points adrift of Urmston in 9th.

On the front pitch at Upton, stand-in skipper Rich Battersby lost the toss and was asked to bowl by Marple. Hampered by the unavailability of 3 of the bowling quartet that had picked up 67 league wickets this season, Upton found wickets hard to come by, however, always managed to keep the scoring in check. Batts made the first breakthrough (G Mac taking the catch behind the stumps) with the score on 36 and had Saxelby LBW shortly after with the visitors on 40-2. A partnership of 116 for the 3rd wicket between Cash & Massey ensured that Marple would post a score before James Woods had Cash caught by Dava for 83. Bass joined Massey and added 43 from 32 balls taking the Marple innings to 204-5 from their 50 overs. James Woods bowled both Massey and Bass to finish with 3-69 from his 14 overs.

Graeme was the first to go (LBW to Cash) with the score on 16-1 and when Luca was caught by Wild off Bergin, Upton were 40-2, the same score as Marple had been earlier in the day. Sam Talbot (fresh from the memory of an undefeated ton against the same opposition on the opening day) was joined by Dava and they set about replicating the Marple 3rd wicket effort. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be although they did add 48 runs before Sam fell for 45. 2 quick wickets left the outcome in the balance with Upton on 90-5 however, a partnership of 25 between Dava & Bats (before Dava was out for a patient 30) and an unbroken partnership of 43 between Batts & James Woods saw Upton finish on 163-7 and the match was drawn. Upton are still 2nd to bottom but are only 13 points behind Hyde (who they visit next week) and 24 points behind Cheadle.

The information currently to hand on the 3rd team game is somewhat limited at the time of writing this, however, suffice to say it was a short game. Lymm Oughtrington Park batted first but were all out for 30. Gary Docherty picked up 4 wickets, whilst Phil McGowan got 3 and skipper Ian Sharrock also got 3 bringing his total league wickets for the season to 30. Despite losing 3 early wickets, Paddy Delaney 4* and Paul Gibbons 18*saw us home for a 7 wicket victory with plenty of time to spare. The win keeps the 3rds top of the league ahead of Didsbury & Haslington.

Finally, on the back pitch at Upton, Ian Bruce's 4th XI welcomed Tranmere Victoria to the UCG. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat, however, this was not a decision that worked to their advantage, losing wickets at regular intervals. Only the 2 openers and captain Steve Walker managed to make double figures, the latter finishing on 27 not out batting at 8. There were 3 ducks, 8 of the 10 dismissals were bowled and the innings lasted 23.5 overs. The damage with the ball was done by Kevin Jackson (5-31) and John Scragg (4-26) with youngster Arnav Sashi picking up the other wicket, his second in two games.

We then had the unusual sight of father and son Phil & Tom Wood striding out to opening the batting. When was the last time a father and son opened in a league game for Upton? And, 16.5 overs later, the pair strode off with an unbroken 87 partnership and 25 points in the bag. Tom finished on 12* whilst Phil hit 9 4s and 2 6s in his 62*. The win leaves Upton 9th, just behind Old Parkonians and Oxton